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Constructing Pennsylvania Station

Over 500 buildings were initially cleared for Penn Station’s construction, an area equal to two city blocks, or 28 acres. Crews worked day and night to build the train yard below ground, excavating tons of earth from the construction site. Avenues, buildings, and elevated railroads around the construction had to be propped up while workers excavated around the underground infrastructure.

Like engineering? Explore the Engineering Map of America and see how the most significant feats of science and technology across the US have transformed the landscape. Contribute your own photos and videos at pbs.org/engineeringmap, and download the Mapping History iPhone app!

Masonry work began on Pennsylvania Station in 1908, and the grandeur of architect Charles McKim’s design began to take shape. Penn Station took four years to build and used 27,000 tons of steel, 500,000 cubic feet of granite, 83,000 square feet of skylights and 17 million bricks. Pennsylvania Station opened to the public in 1910.

As the Pennsylvania Railroad tunneled underneath the Hudson River, measurements showed that the tunnels were shifting up and down in the silty river bottom. Increasing the weight of cast iron linings did nothing to settle the tunnels, and the shifting continued. Engineers finally figured out what suddenly seemed obvious: the tunnels were moving with the tide.

The East River flowed over a mix of gravel, clay, sand, silt and bedrock. When sandhogs hit pockets of sand and gravel, there was a risk of air leaking from the tunnels. Workers were constantly on the alert for a whistling sound—a sign that compressed air was escaping and might at any moment punch a hole through the riverbed, known as a blowout. These blowouts were costly and often deadly.

Work never stopped on the Pennsylvania Railroad’s tunneling projects; there were three 8-hour shifts a day, 7 days a week. As the workers dug under the river bed, compressed air was pumped in to keep the water out of the tunnels. To bore under the river, the engineers used a Greathead shield, a steel cylinder with a diameter of 23 feet that weighed nearly 200 tons.

Excavation for the Pennsylvania Railroad's tunnel project was done by hand labor, with workers typically using a spade or pneumatic hammer. Excavation workers, called “sandhogs,” faced many dangers working in a confined space. Equipment was constantly moving in and out along with muck carts full of tons of mud and rock—and there was nowhere to run if things went awry.

Over 500 buildings were initially cleared for Penn Station’s construction, an area equal to two city blocks, or 28 acres. Crews worked day and night to build the train yard below ground, excavating tons of earth from the construction site. Avenues, buildings, and elevated railroads around the construction had to be propped up while workers excavated around the underground infrastructure.

In 1961, the financially strapped Pennsylvania Railroad announced it had sold the air rights above Penn Station. The company would tear down what had once been its crowning jewel to build Madison Square Garden, a high-rise office building and sports complex. Demolition began on October 28, 1963 and would continue for the next three years.

The enormous engineering feat and one of the greatest architectural achievements of its time, Pennsylvania Station was torn down after just 53 years. Premieres on PBS American Experience February 18, 2014.

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